I’m so happy to see Jason Kottke giving up his job to work on his personal web site for a year. Why? Two reasons…
Won, I’m jealous. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said, “Man, I’d love to just get paid to maintain laze.net, the ADD sites, the veg blog, and the UA Journal while running my label.” But I never once thought about doing it for real. With a mortgage, it’s a tough thought to consider, even for a moment. But, honestly, if I could devote 30 hours a week to my own sites—both the content and the technology behind them—and then take another 10 hours a week to volunteer, I think I’d be the happiest man on the planet. I’ve always done what I’ve really loved, creating, as my hobby. The thought of doing it to support myself is mind-blowing. I’m glad Jason’s giving it a shot. He’s got the readership, the skills, and the motivation, so I’m willing to bet he can make it happen. And the rest of us can live vicariously through him.
Too, I love his site. I love reading what he has to say, because his writing isn’t mundane and regurgitated (like, say, this site). Sure, he’s one of the “A-List” bloggers and it may not be cool to link to him for those of us wannabe A-Listers, but he’s got quality content and I look forward to there being more and more of it now that he’s really devoting the time to it. I was worried he might shy away from his personal site after the debacle with Jeopardy and Sony, but it seems that setback only served to refocus him.
Best of luck to the Big Man That Brought Back the Webcam.